Saturday, June 17, 2017

Do Not Become Confused

President Duterte's flirtation with China seems to be ending as the Philippines realizes how bad an idea that really is:

Chinese efforts to buy the cooperation of the Philippines in the South China Sea dispute have failed as Filipinos realized that there was little gain in the long run by giving in to Chinese demands. Although China became the largest trading partner with the Philippines this year most Filipinos did the math and realized the Chinese dictatorship could turn that around without warning. It now seemed that the Americans were a better long-term ally because the Americans have no old territorial claims in the neighborhood, are a democracy and have a long history of good behavior.

Luckily, no damage has been done during the period of confusion.